Younger people feel negatively about the planet’s future

Younger people feel negatively about the planet’s future

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that a group of young people can proceed with a lawsuit suing the Trump administration for climate change inaction.

The plaintiffs, all aged between 11 and 22, are arguing that the Trump administration is violating their human rights by allowing fossil fuels to proceed, despite knowing their impact on the environment.

The two organisations behind the lawsuit, Juliana v. the United States accuse the federal government of “creating a national energy system that causes climate change, is depriving them of their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property and [failing] to protect essential public trust resources.”

Australian young people also concerned about climate change

The court case comes at the same time that Australian young people say they feel negatively about the Earth’s future. They also say that they are working hard and don’t feel that politicians are working in their interests, according to results from a major survey.

Triple J has released the results from its What’s Up in Your World survey. This quizzed 11,000 people aged 18-29 about a wide range of attitudes and behaviours.

While sometimes referred to as a Young People Census, this was not really a census, but a wide-ranging survey with a large sample.

The ABC website has published the survey results, with an extensive infographic.

Only seven percent of the 11,000 said agreed with the premise that politicians work, “in the best interests of young people”.

On the future of the planet, 75 percent of the respondents said that they feel negatively about the earth’s future.

The vast majority, 88 percent, also said that racism was a problem in Australia.

The survey results come at the same time as a US survey from Nuveen points to young people’s spending habits. As Relevant Magazine report, the Third Annual Responsible Investment Survey found that 90 percent of Millennials preferred to financially support or work at companies that were socially responsible.

The What’s Up in Your World survey results and infographic are available on the ABC website.

Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor

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